1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to optimal conversion of an image to be printed by a printer and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for printing an optimally converted image using predefined data and color characteristics.
2. Description of Related Art
Image apparatuses cannot display images with all the natural colors. Therefore, image apparatuses display images by providing more information on aspects that are better recognized. Particularly, human vision is most sensitive to lightness changes. Accordingly, print quality is greatly influenced by adjusting the lightness and contrast of printed images.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,883,632 discloses a method for displaying color lightness, thereby being compressed in different directions through separate setting of a gamut, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,646,762 discloses a method for displaying color lightness using a low-pass filter. However, they do not enhance color preference, and they do not consider properties of input and output devices.
Conventionally, solid colors are optimized by remapping lightness/chroma, but there is a strong probability that detailed parts to be printed will be massed. That is, conventional printing methods optimize primary solid colors such as cyan, magenta, yellow, and secondary solid colors such as red, green and blue, and represent composite images with details. However, this is contradictory to the aspect of color mapping.
Accordingly, there is a demand for a method and an apparatus for enabling lightness/contrast adjustment that considers outputting color characteristic of various input and output devices, and input images, as well as the visual sensitivity of humans.